UK Policy Review update - some hope!

Sadly, experience suggests that despite the promises of our leaders, actual progress in the reviews of government policy may have been "lost in the system". You decide.

It is now past six weeks ago that both the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, and his Secretary of State for Defence, The Right Hon. Des Browne, both referred to a review of the current policy relating to Iraqi nationals who were applying for asylum in the United Kingdom; specifically, those Iraqis who were now being targeted by militias because of their employment by coalition forces, or UK / US Governments.

Meanwhile, I am now receiving several emails each day from people in fear of their lives. I decided that now was the time to investigate what progress is being made with the review.

Sadly, on searching various government websites, I could find no reference to this matter. Part of me speculates that there is a degree of "bad news being buried" by the Government, and any issue relating to the British military operation in Iraq appears to bring on soundbites, nervous sweating and yet more promises of endless reviews, etc.

I started by calling the Ministry of Defence. Since the UK military has been one of the biggest employers of Iraqi nationals in Southern Iraq, since 2003, I figured this as a good starting point.

Having explained my interest in this matter, and the nature of my enquiry, the receptionist patiently rang around four different departments to locate somebody, who "knows about this, and can give you some information."

"Great!" I thought; she clearly understands where I am coming from.

And then we spent the next 25 minutes trying to locate someone. Anyone, in fact.

After what were evidently pointed responses from the various desks to the receptionist's enquiries, I was politely asked to "try the FCO (Foreign and Commonwealth Office); as far as we know, they are dealing with it".

Sounded reasonable to me; FCO, the government department that supplied civil servants into the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), was bound to be involved - after all, their own civil servants employed and worked alongside Iraqi Translators and Contractors since the military operation began in 2003.

So, I called the FCO; and after five minutes of holding after the first "Oh, I see; um, let me see if I can get somebody to talk to you" from the person answering my call, he came back on the line to tell me that "ah, you need to speak to the Cabinet Office".

I thanked her, and ended the call.

Now, I'm no expert in how modern government functions, but the recommendation for me to speak to somebody from the Cabinet Office, made complete sense.

Again, the Cabinet Office had supplied senior civil servants into the CPA; and again, they could see with their own eyes the work being done by Iraqi nationals directly for our government.

As the central operational policy unit within the British Government, Clearly They Would Know. I felt I was getting somewhere, albeit slowly.

So, I checked in with the Cabinet Office; firstly, by checking their website for any clues on what progress was being made. Sadly, my preliminary search for on "Iraq" as a topic merited no success. Undeterred, for the third time in the space of an hour, I explained the nature of my enquiry to the guy who answered the Cabinet Office telephone number.

"Is this for an individual, or are you just wanting a bit of general information about what's happening?" I was asked.

I answered; "Well, I'm receiving dozens of emails from translators who are at this moment living in fear of their lives, and who are well aware that our Prime Minister has announced a review. They keep asking me what is happening; so I told them that I would do my best to find out, and let them know".

I went on to say, "just a quick update would suffice: when the review is due to be completed, that kind of information."

And off we went.

It appeared that I had discovered the flaw in the way government departments worked.

Having first been told that I should direct my enquiry to the FCO, the joke of my mobile phone bill, and the absurdity of having learned that it's a shared switchboard anyway, really makes me wonder.

So, having explained that I had been directed to the Cabinet Office, the male voice at the end of the telephone [let's call him "Mikey"] was at pains to reassure me.

"Yes, the Cabinet Office's function is to draw all the information from the various government departments and put it all together, in things like this."

Okay, reassurance delivered; but as "Mikey" then rang around five different desks, his responses started sounding a little more tense, every time he returned to the line.

"I'm just going to check with Number 10;" (now, I was certainly hoping that he was referring to the office at 10 Downing Street (the Prime Minister's residence), not some nameless civil servant, spawn of the Drone Army.

Back on the line: "Number 10 have told me it's the FCO Information Desk that you need to speak to".

"Great! Can I speak to them, please?"

After five periods on hold, and enough conflicting statements to give a jury apoplexy, 20 minutes and a warning that my credit was running out, I finally spoke to someone called "Alex".

"Alex" was evidently not a man who was going to tell me a single thing about the UK Government's policy review relating to Iraqi Nationals - quite simply, he wasn't in a position to.

"Alex" did go on to say that he would pass my enquiry on "to the desk that is dealing with it."

I responded: "Well, okay, "Alex"; I can put my questions in writing; and as I've just spent over an hour to get this far with you, would it be possible to have the name of the Desk Officer dealing with this—or her email—in order that I can contact the officer directly?"

"Alex", having now fully realised my concerns, and the urgency of them, kindly gave me his email address. I committed to sending an email to him, which he said would be sent to "The Desk" to respond to.

So 45 minutes later, at 1:15pm today, I sent Alex the following:

Dear Alex,

Further to our telephone conversation, I would request a response to the following:

Further to the announcement made 7 August by the PM that a review is being conducted into the plight of current and former Iraqi translators that are now being specifically targeted; now that six weeks has passed, I consider that if not already complete, that the review's actual completion date must now be planned.

1. Would you please advise me, when the review is due to be completed?

2. If a policy change was to be made, how quickly does the review team consider the policy would take to communicate to those Iraqi nationals already identified as being at risk?

Presently, I am in contact with many current and former translators, some of whom have fled into neighbouring countries; the remainder are in Iraq, and are hiding from militiamen who are executing "collaborators" on a near-daily basis.

Since the British handed over control of Basra Palace, this situation is deteriorating very quickly, and the risk to these people is increasing.

I have been informed of translators approaching the guards at BIA to be told to return the next day, whereby the message is repeated by another guard.

3. Would you please advise me what action is being taken by British Forces / HMG in Iraq, when approached by a former / current translator in this position?

4. Inasmuch that this issue is not new, but the review is; would you advise me on what date this issue came to the attention of the FCO / Cabinet Office?

5. Mention was made in the media, of a total of 91 translators who were the subject of this review. Please clarify the definition of this number - are these: current employees; all translators employed since March 2003; 91 known individuals who have reported that they are at risk; or some other definition?

6. Please confirm the scope of the review; i.e. whether the review is considering only hearing from military translators, or will it include those who have worked for HMG, ORHA, CPA, and similar?

7. Has the review team liaised with our US counterparts to aid identification of persons at risk, given that many translators have been passed between UK and US governmental organisations in Southern Iraq since 2003?

As discussed, a prompt response would be appreciated. In order to speak to yourself, today, I endured twenty minutes of being placed on hold, whilst the operator searched to find somebody who would talk to me. During this time, I was transferred to five other "Desks". Therefore, details of a contact that can address my concerns in a timely way would be appreciated.

Lastly, I have been invited to address MPs on this issue on 9th October; the answers to these questions will be of great use to communicate the facts as presently understood.

Yours sincerely

Mark

Having not had an acknowledgment of receipt on something of such a critical nature, I emailed "Alex" again at 4:15pm to ask for one.

Indeed, I got an acknowledgement by return.

I now await the response, which I hope to receive at some point tomorrow. I'll let visitors and members of this site know what happens.

And finally:

if you're reading, Alex; do me a favour and make sure this happens. I'll let you know of any new incidents over the next couple of days, just so that you can see the problem—far from going away—is getting worse.